Elevator



A. V. ESLER Sept. 17, 1929.

ELEVATOR Filed May 12. 1928 3 Sheets-Sheet Y gyms do 1411506705 l/. bis/er Patented Sept. 17, 1929 UNITED STATES I AUGUSTUS v. ESLER, or EAGLE ENQMI NNESOTA ELEVATOR Application filedMay 12, 1928. Se IiaI NO. 277,125.- i

This invention relates to elevators and more particularly to an improved elevator for use in private residencesand the invention has as oneof its objectsto provide an elevator which may be operated entirely independently of a motor or othermechanical-v ly operating means, the invention therefore contemplating an elevator the operation of which will require no outlay for power, so

that, after the elevator has been installed, it

may be operated without cost for power or any other expenses incidental to its useeXcept such as may be expected as a result of wear after continued use of moving parts for a long'period of time.

Another object of the inventionis to pro vide an elevatorforuse in private residences and so constructed that any one desiring to use the elevator to reach a higher or lower floor in the residence, may do so without any liesitancy on the ground of inexperience or lack of mechanical knowledge, the means provided for operating and controlling the elevator being of such character that it may be readily actuated andcontrolled by any one without any previous experience. i J

Another object "of the invention is to provide an elevator of the, class referred to which may be simultaneously employed by one or any numberof persons, as may be desired. f H a 1 Another object of the invention isto provide novel means for automatically locking the elevator at successive floors and novel means whereby the elevator, if at a higher or lower floor, may be caused to automatically lower or raise, to the level of the floor.

While the accompanying drawings and the description which is to follow, constitute a disclosure of thepreferredembodiment of the invention,it will be understood that various changes maybe made within the scope of what is claimed. I v e Q In the accompanying drawings: Figure lis a side elevation of an elevator constructed in accordance with theinvention, the fioorsof the residence within which the elevator is installed, being shown in section and the elevator car being shown in one posi tion in full lines andin an elevated position inbrokenlines; y I Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view through the elevator structure; Figure 3 is a front elevation of the elevator, the elevator car being shown in alowered position; j i a p Figure 4 is'a horizontal sectional view taken substantially on the line 44 of Figure $100king in the direction indicated bythe arrows;

Figure 5 is a view in elevation of one of the control levers; I I Figure 6 is a detail View partly in elevation and partly'in section illustrating one of the I latches for holding the elevator car at the different landings. o I p e As the elevator, embodying the invention, is designed primarily for use n private resi- I dences, an enclosed shaft such as is ordinarilv numeral l, is not in the nature of the usual elevator cage, but preferably consists ot'la' platform 2, side railings 3, and a rear rail ing 4; The floors of the residenceare indi-" cated by the numeral 5 and the elevatoi is designed primarily for use in two-story and two-story and basement houses. A rectan'gii 'lar open ngfi is provided in each floor 5 and mounted in any desired manner to insure of the desired rigidity and St-flblllty'ptlt the rear corners oftheopenings and extending from the lowermost floor to the ceiling of the up per-most floor, area pair of channel iron runways or guides? preterablybraced attheir upper and lower ends by cross braces 8, or

the lower ends of the said runways maybe embedded in a concrete foundation in the of the rear railing 4, the car 1 is provided with uprights which are indicated by the numeral 9, and rollers and 11 are ournaled at the upper and lower ends of the said up rights 9 and travel in the said runways, it be ing understood that inasmuch as the uprights 9 are of a height greater than the height of the car 1 and the rollers 10 and 11 are arranged in the manner stated, the car will be supported in position with its floor horizontal, and may travel upwardly and downwardly between the runways and through the openings 6 in the floors 5. In order that the weight of the car may be substantially balanced, cables 12 are secured each at one end as at 13 to the upper end of a respective one of the uprights 9 and these cables areledupwardly and' are trained overpulleys 14 mounted for free rotation upon the ends of a shaft 15 which shaft is supported at its ends by the upper end portions of the runways 7, the other stretches of the cables being led downwardly and connected to containers 16 the elevator car, the floor of the same adapted to be brought to a level with the floors 5 oft-he stories of the residence in which the elevator is installechand in order that the car may be held stationary at. any floor at which it may be located, a latch mechanism is provided which will now be described. The said latch mechanism is mounted upon the under side of the floor 2 of the car at the open front of the car and comprises a latch bolt which is indicated in general by the numeral 17 and consists of a head 18 the upper side of which, at its outer end, is beveled as indicated by the numeral 19. The bolt is provided with a stem 20, and a spring 21 is connected one end to the said stem and at its other end to the under side of the floor of the car and yieldably holds the bolt head 18 projected forwardly so that the forward end. of the head will engage in a keeper yoke 22 secured 'to the under side of each floor 5 at the front upwardly through a slot 27 which is formed in the floor 2 of the elevator car and the upper-portion of the said arm 24 is directed horizontally rearwardly to provide a foot ed at the bottom of the elevator shaft and thence upwardly through the openings in the floors 5 to a pulley 29, from which pulley the cable is led downwardly within the elevator shaft and secured at its other end to the floor or other fixed part of the car 1 as clearly shown in Figure l of the drawings. At this point it will be evident that the spring 21serves to yieldably hold the bolt head 18 projected so that its forward end will engage in the keeper 2 upon the under side of the floor or landing 5 at which the elevator car may at that time be stationary, and in order to prevent accidental or too ready a retraction of the bolt from engagement with any one of the keepers, each keeper, which is preferably of U-shape, is formed upon the upper side of its lower connecting portion, and at its side which is presented toward the opening 6, with a rib 81, and the bolt head 18 is provided in its under side with a notch 32 which engages the rib 31, in the manner clearly shown in Figure 6 of the drawings. It will now be evident that, it being understood that the car 1 is stationary at one of the floors or landings 5,'the engagement of arm 24 or a downward pull is exerted upon the cable 29, the bolthead 18 will be retracted from engagement with the keeper 22 against the slight resistance ofiered by the fitting of the. notch 32 over the rib 31, thus releasing the car 1 for upward or downward travel. For a purpose which will presently be made apparent, the edges of the floors 5, at the points of location of the keepers 22 are formed with notches or recesses 22 which are of the same dimensions as the open upper sides of the respective keepers.

As previously stated, the containers 16 are filled with sand and they constitute. in effec't, counterweights which are associated with the car 1 for the purpose of substantially counterbalancing the car. The invention contemplates the provision of a plurality of other counterweights similar in construction to the counterweights 16 and any one or another or a group of which may be brought into use by the manipulation of levers arranged in juxtaposition to the floors or land-- ings with respect-to which the car is movable, so as to substantially or approximately counterbalance the weight of the passenger or passengers inthe car. Also, as previously stated, the elevator is designed primarily for use in private residences and practically exclusively by members of a family and, in practice, a number of containers 33 are provided and may each be in the nature of a bucket of suitable dimensions to con tain a considerable quantity of sand. These containers, which, when filled or partly filled with sand, constitute independent counter-weights, have connected to them the lower ends of cables 34 which cables are led upwardly and trained over pulleys 35 which meral 39. A spindle is mounted through the bar 37 of eachlever 36 and projects equal distances at opposite sides beyond the bar 37 of said lever near the handle 38 thereof, rollers 41 being rotatably mounted upon these projecting ends of the spindle 40.

Mounted at their ends upon brackets 42 which are fixed upon the rear sides of the runways 7 are angle iron retaining members which are indicated by by the numeral 43, each of these members including a downwardly and rearwardly inclined flange 44 and a forwardly and slightly downwardly inclined flange 45, the flanges 45 being formed at intervals corresponding to the spacing of the cables 34, with notches which are indicated by the numeral 46, and by reference to Figures 2, '3 and 5 of the drawings, it will be observed thatthe rollers 41 upon two of the control levers 36 are in engagement in the angle between the flanges 44 and 45 of the retaining members 43. It will be observed at this point that, as best shown in Figures 2 and 3, the control levers which are connected with two of the cables 34 have their rollers 41 engaged with the retaining members 43 and therefore the counterweights 33 to which the other ends of these cables are connected, exert no elevating action on the car. Likewise the control levers to which the other cables 34 are connected are engaged with the retaining device 43 at the landing at which the car is located and the counterweights associated therewith likewise exert no lifting effect on the elevator can. In order that the levers 36 may be operated either singly or collectively so that the counterweights 33 associated therewith may be connected with the car 1 and exert an elevating action thereon, a retaining member 47 is mounted to extend between the upper end portions of '47 upon the car. lever '36 therefore serves to connect the res'pective cable 34 with the car and likewise the uprights 9 of the car land includes a downwardly and forwardly inclined flange 48 and a downwardly and rearwardly inclined upper flange 49 and by reference to Figure 2 of the drawings it willbe observed that when the car 1 is at one of the floors or landings 5, thelower margin of the flange 49 of the retaining member 47 is designed to substa-ntially register with the corresponding margin of the flange 45 of one or another "'o f the retaining members 43, and the said flange 49 is formed in its edge,-at intervals, with notches 50 which correspond to and register with corresponding ones of thenotches46 in I the flanges 45 of the retaining members 43,

"when the retaining member 47 is brought into substantial registration with one or another of the retainlng members 43.

In the use of the elevator, and assuming that i a resident of the house in which it is installed is on the lower floor shown in Figure 1, and I wishes to reach the upper floor, he'will step onto thefloor of the car land will grasp one of the operating levers 36, namely that'one with which is connected, by means of thecable 34, the counterweight 33 which is of slightly grea ter weight than the said resident andwill pull forwardly upon this lever causing the rollers 41 toride from engagement with the flange 45 of the respective retainingmember 43 and into engagement in the angle between the flanges 48 and 49 of the retaining member This adjustment of the connect the respective counterweight 33 with the car. At this time the car moves upwardly under the influence of the counterweight 33.

As the car leaves the floor at which it was formerly stationary, the occupant will relieve the foot pressure on the lever 24 and therefore the bolt 18 willbe projected through the medium of the spring 21 into position to engage with and enter the keeper 22 upon the floor above thus automatically arresting the'motion l of the car at the time it reaches the level of this floor. The occupant'of the car may then swing the lever 36rearwardly so as to cause "the rollers 41 to engage in the angle between the flanges of the retaining'member 43 which islocated above the upper floor at which the car has come to a standstilh'and may then leave the car, This latter adjustment of the lever 36 serves of course to transfer the pulling effect of the counterweight' 33 from the car to the retaining member 43 andtherefore the elevating influence of thiscounterweight is no longer imposed upon the car. 'It is preferable that the counter-weights 33 be so proportioned that they will nearly balance weightto elevate the elevator and the occupant thereof, movement of the elevator in an upward or downward direction may be effected by providing a rod 51 to extend'the height of the residence and in one of the forward corners of the openings 6 in the floors 5 thereof which rod may be grasped by the one occupying the elevator and the upward or downward travel of the elevator effected by a slight downward or upward pull upon the said rbd 51. If the elevator car is in the position illustrated in broken lines in Figure l and a resident of the house who is at the upper floor wishes to reach the lower floor, this may be done by entering the car 1, pulling the respective control lever inwardly, treading upon the foot piece 28, of the lever arm 24, and pulling upwardly upon the rod 51.

If the elevator is at one of the upper floors or landings and an occupant of the house is at one of the lower floors and wishes to make use of the elevator, this may be accomplished by exerting a downwardly pull upon the cable 29 to effect a retraction of the latch head 18 from the keeper 22 at the upper floor and then continuing this pull upon the said cable 29 to effect a downward travel of the elevator car to the desired floor, it being understood that I the car maybe locked in place when it reaches the said floor, by releasing the cable 29 when the car has nearly reached the floor. If the elevator is at the lower floor or one of the lower floors and an occupant of the house is at one of the upper floors and wishes to make use of the elevator, this may be accomplished by exerting a downward pull on that stretch of the cable 29 which extends between the pulley 29 and the pulley 29*, this resulting in an upward pull being exerted upon the stretch of the cable which is connected at its end to the elevator car and resulting, consequently, in upward travel of the car in the shaft.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim is:

1. In an elevator, an upright runway, a car guided thereby for raising and lowering movement, a series of landings, a retaining member upon the car, retaining members adjacent the landings and positioned to substantially register with the retaining member upon the car when the car is at the respective landing, a counterweight, a cable connected at one end thereto, a pulley at the top of the runway over which the cable is trained, each of the retaining members including angularly disposed flanges, the relatively adjacent flanges of the retaining member upon the car and the retaining members upon the runway having notches therein, control levers, rollers journaled upon the control levers, the control levers being engageable in corresponding ones of the notches selectively in the retaining members'upon the runway and the retaining member upon the car in position of registration of sand retalnmg members and the notches thereof, whereby the lever may be anchored with respect to the retaining member upon the car or to one or another of the retaining members upon the runway, pulleys at the top of the runway, cables connected to the said levers and trained over said pulleys, and counterweights connected to the other ends of said cables.

2. In an elevator, an upright runway, a car guided thereby for raising and lowering movement, a series of landings, a retaining member upon the car, a retaining member adjacent each landing, a counterweight, a cable connected at one end thereto, a pulley at the top of the runway over which the cable is trained, a member to which the other end of the cable is connected, the said member being shiftable into selective engagement with the first mentioned retaining member or one of the second mentioned retaining members when the said members are in juxtaposition, keepers upon the landings, a latch upon the car engageable with the landing keepers, and a cable connected with the latch and depending below the car and constituting means whereby the latch may be manually actuated remotely with respect to the car.

3. In an elevator, an upright runway, a car guided thereby for raising and lowering movement, a series of landings, a retaining member upon the car, a retaining member adjacent each landing, a counterweight, a cable connected at one end thereto, a vpulley at the top of the runway over which the cable is trained, a member to which the other end ofthe cable is connected, the said member being shiftable into selective engagement with the first mentioned retaining member or one of the second mentioned retaining members when the said members are in juxtaposition, keepers upon the landings, a latch .upon the car engageable with the landing keepers, a pulley at the bottom of the runway, a pulley at the top of the runway, and a cable connected at one end with the latch and extending downwardly from the car and about the first mentioned pulley and thence upwardly and over the second mentioned pulley and downwardly within the shaft with its other end connected to the car and constituting means 'whereby the latch may be actuated and motion imparted to the car by one desiring to bring the car to the landing atwhich he is located.

4. In an elevator, an upright runway, a car guided thereby for raising and lowering movement, a series of landings, a counterweight for the car connected therewith, keepers upon the landings, a latch upon the car engageable with the landing keepers, a manipulating foot pedal for the latch operatively connected therewith and carried by the floor of the car, a pulley at the bottom of the runway, a pulley at the top of the runway,

and a cable connected atone end with the foot pedal and extending downwardly from the car and about the first mentioned pulley and thence upwardly and over the second mentioned pulley and downward within the shaft with its other end connected to the car and constituting means whereby the latch may be actuated and motion imparted to the car by one desiring to bring the car to the landing at which he is located.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

AUGUSTUS V. ESLER. 

